Space Taxis: Next stop Mars?

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Privately owned Space Exploration Technologies launched a
test run to the International Space Station early Tuesday, but
visiting the orbital outpost is just the beginning of the
company's grand plan to give humanity a toehold on Mars.

"Our goal is to revolutionize space transport, so we'll be doing
every kind of space transport, except for suborbital. We'll
launch satellites of all shapes and sizes, service the space
station with cargo and crew, and then the long-term objective is
to develop a space transport system that will enable humanity to
become a multi-planet species," company founder and chief
executive officer Elon Musk said in an interview with SpaceflightNow.com.

Musk, a co-founder of internet financial services PayPal and
Zip2, figures the United States can fly people to Mars in about
15 years -- well ahead of the U.S. government's human space
exploration plan.

The Obama administration wants NASA to launch a human mission to
an asteroid around 2025, and follow up with a Mars flight about
10 years after that. The agency is spending about $3 billion a
year to develop a heavy-lift rocket and multi-purpose deep-space
capsule for human missions beyond the space station, which flies
about 240 miles above Earth.

With the retirement of the space shuttles last year, NASA is
dependent on partner countries to reach the space station, but it
hopes to change that by buying rides for cargo, and eventually
for its astronauts, on commercially owned and operated
spaceships.

A key milestone is expected this week when SpaceX becomes the
first private company to attempt to reach the station.

"I believe that this transition is very important for continuing
the push outward into the solar system," NASA's Phil McAlister,
who oversees the agency's commercial spaceflight programs, said
at a pre-launch press conference.

"Once we get private enterprise and economic interests out to
low-Earth orbit there will be no turning back. It no longer will
be subject to prevailing political winds," he said.

Liftoff of the company's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule from
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida was called off at the
last second Saturday due to a faulty engine valve. The rocket was
repaired and made a successful launch early Tuesday. The Dragon
capsule is scheduled to reach the space station on Friday.

Though the mission will be closely watched, it is a test flight,
and an ambitious one at that. SpaceX petitioned NASA to combine
two demonstration missions into one and NASA agreed, assuming the
company's Dragon capsule can perform as planned once it reaches
orbit.

A Dragon capsule first flew in December 2010, but that version
pales in comparison to the spacecraft scheduled for launch on
Tuesday.

The latest Dragon is outfitted with solar panels, sophisticated
communication and navigation systems and a berthing port so it
can be attached to the space station.

"We know this has been touted as a huge mission," said SpaceX
president Gwynne Shotwell. "We keep trying to say it's a test.
Nonetheless, it's a big job. Success is not going to mean success
of the commercial space industry, and failure is not going to
mean failure of the commercial space industry. Certainly, it will
be easier if we're able to berth with the space station."

"There should be no doubt about our resolve," echoed Musk, during
a conference call with reporters. "We will get to the space
station, whether it's on this mission or on a future one."

If successful, SpaceX will begin working off its 12-flight, $1.6
billion contract to fly cargo to the station for NASA later this
year. It also is in the running to develop a commercial space
taxi for NASA as well.